End Polluter Welfare Act

May 11. 2012-by Senator Bernie Sanders in Reader Supported News

I am proud to be here today with Congressman Ellison, with my good friend and fellow Vermonter Bill McKibben, with Brent Blackwelder from Friends of the Earth and Ryan Alexander from Taxpayers for Common Sense.

We are here today not just to announce new legislation, but to send a message – and that message is that it is time to end the absurdity of taxpayers providing massive subsidies to hugely profitable fossil fuel corporations. In these difficult economic times, it is imperative that we support the taxpayers of this country and not the fossil fuel industry – one of the most powerful special interests in the world.

Our federal government is set to give away over $110 billion in taxpayer dollars to the oil, gas, and coal industries over the next 10 years. That is totally absurd.

When we have a $15.6 trillion national debt, we cannot afford it. When the five largest oil companies have made over $1 trillion in profits in the last decade, they don’t need it. When some of these same polluters have, in a given year, paid zero in federal income taxes and actually received IRS rebate checks worth millions, they don’t deserve it. When fossil fuels are the number one source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, creating a planetary crisis of global warming that is already causing devastating extreme weather disturbances, we can’t ignore it.

As people throughout our country are demanding that we invest in energy efficiency and sustainable energy, and when Congress has instead allowed key sustainable energy incentives to expire even as Big Oil reaps billions in subsidies, it is time to change our national energy priorities.

So today, Congressman Ellison and I are introducing the End Polluter Welfare Act in the House and the Senate. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Tell Apple to quit coal for powering the ICloud

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Duke Energy settlement unsettles utility’s fiercest foe- Dan Carptenter Indy Star Columnist

May 6, 2012-Column by Dan Carpenter in the Indianapolis Star News

They were a voice in the wilderness when they took on mighty Duke Energy Corp. and its $3 billion Edwardsport coal gasification plant five years ago.

Now that Duke has been brought to heel over cost overruns it sought to pass along to customers, the Citizens Action Coalition and other consumer and environmental groups who oppose the plant’s very existence feel not so much vindicated as left out in the cold.

They call it a “heist” that Duke would absorb a minimum of $700 million of excess cost for a project they deem unneeded and experimental to begin with, and they accuse those who made the deal of lowballing the potential hit to customers and pretending skulduggery didn’t happen.

What will $3.3 billion buy? Just a bunch of Chinese steel and experimental technology for which Dupe Energy customers were forced by the state of Indiana to assume the risk for. Pictured is the Duke Energy Edwardsport power plant which could turn out to be a very expensive "lemon." Photo © 2012 John Blair

“It is unconscionable,” says the CAC’s executive director, Kerwin Olson, “for the OUCC and the industrials to allow these ethical issues to just go away.” Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

KY Supreme Court allows NGOs to participate in settlement discussion on Clean Water Violations

May 2, 2012-Editorial in the Lexington Herald Leader

Mountain Top Removal mining destroys streams and rivers as tops of mountains are disposed into them in order to access a seam of coal. The resulting water violations have been loosely dealt with under numerous Kentucky administrations. The Supreme Court ruling allows the organization which complained about the violations to participate in the settlement which they said was too small to have an impact. Photo © 2010 near Pikeville, KY by John Blair.

In a unanimous rebuff of the Beshear administration’s environmental cabinet, the Kentucky Supreme Court has upheld citizens’ rights to be heard in clean water enforcement actions.

“Federal law encourages the states to permit interested citizens to intervene and be heard in state court enforcement proceedings.” Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson wrote for the seven justices.

The unanimous opinion also cites “Congress’s express declaration that public participation in efforts to control water pollution is a priority of the Clean Water Act.”

Yet, the Beshear administration, which is responsible for enforcing the Clean Water Act in Kentucky, had insisted it would be “an unwarranted burden” to allow interested citizens groups and individuals to object to a settlement between the Cabinet for Energy and Environment and two of the state’s largest coal companies.

The administration tried to exclude the citizens groups even though they uncovered the massive violations and filed a notice to sue, which, under federal law, triggered the state investigation that led to the proposed settlement.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued “a carefully circumscribed order” granting Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance and four individuals an opportunity to voice their objections to the settlement proposed by the cabinet and Frasure Creek Mining and International Coal Group.

The citizens contended the $660,000 in fines agreed to by the cabinet were inadequate for years of inaccurate water monitoring by the companies. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Community Groups File Lawsuit for Federal Coal Ash Protections

April 5, 2012-by Jared Saylor, Earthjustice

Coal ash ponds and landfills lie adjacent to both a residential community and the Ohio River at Louisville Gas and Electric's Cane Run pose plant in west Lousiville, KY. The ash has been a source of friction between neighbors and the company for a long time. Now the plant is slated for retirement but the ash might remain a problem forever. Photo © 2010 John Blair.

Environmental and public health groups will file a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete its rulemaking process and finalize public health safeguards against toxic coal ash. Although the EPA has not updated its waste disposal and control standards for coal ash in over thirty years, it continues to delay these needed federal protections despite more evidence of leaking waste ponds, poisoned groundwater supplies and threats to public health. The groups’ lawsuit comes as EPA data show that an additional 29 power plants in 16 states have contaminated groundwater near coal ash dump sites.

Earthjustice is suing the agency under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) on behalf of Appalachian Voices (NC), Environmental Integrity Project, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (MD), French Broad Riverkeeper (NC), Kentuckians For The Commonwealth (KY), Moapa Band of Paiutes (NV), Montana Environmental Information Center (MT), Physicians for Social Responsibility, Prairie Rivers Network (IL), Sierra Club and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (TN). RCRA requires the EPA to ensure that safeguards are regularly updated to address threats posed by wastes, but the EPA has never revised the safeguards to ensure that they address coal ash. Coal ash is the byproduct of coal-fired power plants, and includes a toxic mix of arsenic, lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury, selenium, cadmium and other dangerous pollutants.

The EPA’s data about groundwater contamination at 29 additional sites came as a result of a 2010 questionnaire the agency sent to approximately 700 fossil- and nuclear-fueled power plants in an effort to collect data on water discharges. The questionnaire collected general plant information and also required a subset of coal-fired power plants to collect and analyze samples of leachate from coal ash dump sites and report exceedances of toxic chemicals in groundwater monitored by the plants. The Environmental Integrity Project filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the data. After analysis by Earthjustice and EIP, according to the facilities’ own monitoring data, 29 sites had coal ash contaminants in groundwater, including arsenic, lead and other pollutants. Contamination was found at plants in 16 states, with multiple new cases in Texas (3), North Carolina (3), Colorado (2), South Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (2), Iowa (3), and West Virginia (5), among others.

A cloud of highly toxic coal ash is seen blowing like a sandstorm straight at the homes on the Moapa River Reservation. (Photo by Moapa Band of Paiutes)

Today’s lawsuit would force the EPA to set deadlines for review and revision of relevant solid and hazardous waste safeguards to address coal ash, as well as the much needed, and long overdue changes to the test that determines whether a waste is hazardous under RCRA.

“The numbers of coal ash ponds and landfills that are contaminating water supplies continues to grow, yet nearby communities still do not have effective federal protection,” said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans. “It is well past time the EPA acts on promises made years ago to protect the nation from coal ash contamination and life-threatening coal ash ponds.” Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Indiana leads the way in release of toxic chemicals to water. Rockport’s AK Steel is nation’s largest toxic water polluter

April 3, 2012-A Press Release from Environment America (Use this link to download entire report) Editor’s note: Rockport, IN is already one of the most toxic communities in the entire US. And yet, Local and state officials are wanting to force Hoosier natural gas consumers to pay a premium for syngas produced by the proposed Indiana Gasification facility just a mile south of AK Steel and directly across US 231 from the huge polluter AEP’s Rockport power plant, a 2600 megawatt behemoth that supplies electricity to southern Michigan and northeastern Indiana.)

AK Steel built their Rockport plant as a "state of the art" steel mill in 1997 but quickly became the nation's #1 toxic water polluter with routine toxic emission of more than 20 million pounds per year and has remained on top for over a decade since. The plant is just a mile north of the 2600 megawatt Rockport power plant that is one of the nation;s largest polluters in a number of categories as well. Photo © 2011 John Blair

Five states—Indiana, Virginia, Nebraska, Texas, and Georgia—account for forty percent of the total amountof toxic discharges to U.S. waterways in 2010, according to a new report released today by Environment America.Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act also reports that 226 million pounds oftoxic chemicals were discharged into 1,400 waterways across the country.

“America’s waterways are a polluter’s paradise right now. Polluters dumped 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals into our lakes, rivers and streams in 2010,” said Shelley Vinyard, Clean Water Advocate with Environment America. “We must turn the tide of toxic pollution by restoring Clean Water Act protections to our waterways.”

The Environment America report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available.

Major findings of the report include:

  • Pollution from just five states—Indiana, Virginia, Nebraska, Texas, and Georgia—accounted for nearly forty percent of the total amount of pollution dumped into our waterways in 2010
  • Food and beverage manufacturing (slaughterhouses, rendering plants, etc.), primary metals manufacturing, chemical plants, and petroleum refineries were some of the largest polluters. AK Steel dumped the most toxic pollution—nearly 30 million pounds—into our waterways in 2010.
  • In 2010, industries discharged approximately 1.5 million pounds of cancer-causing chemicals, like arsenic, chromium, and benzene, into America’s waterways. Nevada’s Burns Creek received the largest volume of carcinogens in 2010, while neighboring Mill Creek placed third.
  • Nitrates accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total volume of discharges to waterways reported in 2010. Nitrates are toxic, particularly to infants consuming formula made with nitrate-laden drinking water, who may be susceptible to methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby” syndrome, a disease that reducesthe ability of blood to carry oxygen throughout the body. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Try not to breathe today in Evansville

This picture was taken at approximately 1 PM on March 31, 2012 and shows the Evansville Ohio River industrial corridor on a day when pollution levels reached more than 43% higher than the health based standard for fine particles. Photo: John Blair.

March 31, 2012-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor

Although no warnings were issued, which is par for Evansville, fine particle pollution reached dangerous levels today just as people decided to get out and enjoy an otherwise marvelous day.

Our local pollution agency has a history of ignoring warning signs and failing to issue proper warnings, especially when they occur on the weekend since those whose job is supposed to protect us from this sort of pollution do not want their weekends interrupted by having to work to get that word out.

At 10 AM on March 31, the level of fine particles measured at Evansville’s official monitor registered a whopping 49.91 micrograms/cubic meter or 43% higher than the health based standard that is considered “unhealthy” for sensitive individuals. That category includes people with respiratory problems like asthma or COPD, children and the elderly.

As the picture above, taken fromMarina Pointe of the River industrial corridor shows, high levels of fine particles degrade visibility as well as health. These pictures taken around 1 PM (there was no data yet available when this was published for that hour).

In the past, community officials have oft been reticent to widely report such excursions of the health based standard lest it be a detriment to attracting additional polluting industry to the region.

People can check the level of their community in Indiana by going here or across the US by following this link.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher Subjected to Cruel and Unusual Punishment–as Climate Destabilizes??

March 28, 2012, by Jeff Biggers in AlterNet

In the same March week that an unprecedented heat wave made even President Obama feel “a little nervous,” imprisoned climate change activist Tim DeChristopher languished mysteriously in isolation at the FCI Herlong’s Special Housing Unit in California.

According to a press release from DeChristopher’s Peaceful Uprising organization, an unidentified member of the US Congress possibly engineered the troubling transfer of the courageous “Bidder 70″–who brought national attention to reckless public land auctions in Utah and climate issues–due to personal correspondence between DeChristopher and a friend over a legal fund contributor.

According to Peaceful Uprising, the confinement to isolation limits DeChristopher’s outside telephone communication to 15 minutes per month, among other restrictions, and raises issues of cruel and unusual punishment, especially considering the long waiting list for similar measures:

Tim will continue to be held in isolated confinement pending an investigation. There is no definite timeline for inmates being held in the SHU — often times they await months for the conclusion of an investigation.

Unanswered questions abound over DeChristopher’s extreme treatment and the role of Congressional members. He still faces nearly a year and a half of incarceration–potentially all of it to be served in isolation now.

As President Obama noted to Chicago host Oprah Winfrey about rising global temperatures: “It gets you thinking.”

Such an outrageous act should also get the public, and President Obama, the US Congress and Bureau of Prisons officials to bring an end to DeChristopher’s wrongful isolation–and unfair 2-year prison sentence.

Peaceful Uprising supporters are calling on prison officials–and members of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security–to intervene and return DeChristopher to Minimum Security Camp at FCI Herlong.

“In the past two weeks, he has been allowed out of his 8 X 10 cell (which he shares with one other inmate) four times, each time for less than an hour. The SHU could have been designed by Franz Kafka,” the press release noted. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alternative Uses for Coal Stuck in Neutral-Natural Gas is just too cheap

March 28, 2012-By Ken Silverstein in EnergyBiz

Duke Energy's Edwardsport coal plant is costing about three times what Duke said it would cost when it acquired political support for the project in 2004. Coming in at $3.3 billion without Carbon Capture and Sequestration which is said to raise the cost by 50%, the plant has been subject to scandals and numerous dockets before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission for which Valley Watch has been an ardent intervener with partners, Save the Valley, Citizens Action Coalition, and Sierra Club, which have sought to stop this polluter which will emit more than 4 million tons of heat trapping CO2 each year it operates. Now Indiana is also forcing Hoosier natural gas consumers to pay a significant premium for coal gas from a proposed plant in Rockport for thirty years that also carries a huge price tag. Similar plants are proposed for Kentucky, and Illinois and just recently a coal to liquids plant was proposed for Newport, IN. It seems that although the rest of the country is finding out that coal synfuels are uneconomic and also pollute, our regional states either do not care about the huge prices they present or are so politically corrupt that their crony capitalism is more important the the economic welfare of their citizens. Photo © 2012 John Blair.

Applying new technologies is admirable. But sticking businesses with huge bills to pay that progress is not. That’s what Exelon and other critics are saying about a proposed plant to convert coal to a synthetic natural gas.

In this particular case, Exelon is taking on Tenaska, which needs Illinois legislators to force the state’s utilities to buy power from its proposed $3.6 billion generator — one that would take coal and gasify it for the purposes of making electricity. Exelon is emphasizing that it is cheaper and easier to just burn the natural gas, noting that its own studies show that the state’s taxpayers would pay heavily for this facility, about 40 percent more than just two years ago.

“It makes absolutely no sense to take coal and make synthetic natural gas out of it,” says Paul Grimmer, chief executive of Eltron Research in Boulder, Colo., a talk with this reporter. “The processes are too expensive. But if you see a huge run-up in natural gas, it may make sense then.”

The developers of that power plant, Tenaska, acknowledge that the current low price of natural gas makes the investment look expensive. But the company goes on to say that such pricing is an anomaly and that over the 40-year lifespan of the investment, the financing would make sense. It is adding that Exelon has a vested interest in stopping construction: Capacity from the unit would be bid into the system and therefore make Exelon’s energy offerings less valuable.

Moreover, Tenaska is saying that older coal-fired power plants are closing and that if coal is to remain viable then modern uses of it must be found. The Illinois state legislature is now debating the issue.

A similar discussion is occurring in the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers from coal-producing states are trying to make the case that the abundance of coal supplies could be used to not just generate electricity but to also make transportation fuels. To their dismay, however, the Obama administration has eliminated funding for such “coal-to-liquids” technologies.

That, in turn, has severely slowed a West Virginia project where such a plant is “underway.” It would be modeled in part after South Africa’s Sasol Co. that now produces about 150,000 barrels a day of oil from coal.

“Last year, when you came before us, you said that the Department of Energy was eager to promote research on coal-to-liquids,” says Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, at  a recent congressional hearing to Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “Why would you have such a reversal?”

Expensive Process

Let’s answer that question. For starters, the process is expensive and when combined with a global credit crunch, such projects are out-of-reach for all developers — unless the government pitches in.  Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Critics raise questions about Rockport power plan

March 18, 2012-by John Russell in the Indianapolis Star

Indiana Gasification wants to build their plant across US 231 from AEP's 2600 megawatt Rockport power plant and just south opt AKSteel's Rockport Works. Those two facilities, together emit more toxic pollution than all the COMBINED industrial toxic emissions of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego. Photo © John Blair.

They were announced with great fanfare nearly six years ago: plans to build a high-tech plant in Rockport in southwestern Indiana that would use coal to produce billions of cubic feet of substitute natural gas a year for Hoosier homes and businesses.

The massive project would save consumers nearly $4 billion over 30 years, said Gov. Mitch Daniels, citing a study by Carnegie-Mellon University. It would help make Indiana “a leader in homegrown clean energy.” The whole project could be built and selling gas by 2011.

But instead of being completed, the plant is still on the drawing board, running into growing opposition and awaiting environmental and financial approvals.

Meanwhile, the market price of natural gas continues to fall, causing some to wonder if the plant still makes economic sense — especially for Indiana’s 1.5 million natural gas customers.

The $2.6 billion project — which would use heat, steam, pressure and oxygen to turn coal into natural gas — is drawing flak from all sides.

Consumer advocates say it is a risky gamble that could backfire.

Environmentalists bristle at the project’s “clean energy” claims, saying the technology is not cutting-edge, and the plant’s huge appetite for coal will expand mining in a state known for its weak safeguards. Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment